Yikes. Only 2 Twins prospects are in Baseball America’s midseason top 100

[John Bonnes]

Royce Lewis at 60 and Jordan Balazovich at 98 are the only Twins prospects among their Top 100 MLB Prospects list. 
 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2021-top-100-prospects/

[wsnydes]

Well, that's just, like, their opinion, man!

Snark aside, this is not a good thing.  I'd expect the Kiriloff's and Larnach's of the world to have graduated, but you'd hope that they would have been replaced on the list by somebody!

[roger]

Do you believe that all the injuries may have something to do with that, John?

Canterino, Duran, Enlow?  Not certain any are Top 100 material, but probably close.  Based on what he did at AA, I would think Winder should be Top 100, but then he wasn't a high draft pick.

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

Duran's inability to stay on the field (and largely perform poorly when on) has definitely hurt his stock. Still think that the Twins have a deep farm system, they just lack high-end talent. Most of their top prospects have at least one blemish that makes their baseball future's murky. For some it's injuries and for others its the lack of an elite skill or the presence of one that could derail them. I'd wager their farm system is closer to No. 10 than it is No. 20, but there aren't many bonafide "sure things" in the system. Even Balazovic and Lewis aren't locks.

[Cap'n Piranha]

I would've thought Miranda would be on this list.  A just-turned-23-year-old OPSing over 1.000 at AA/AAA with a 172 wRC+ and 9.7% bb rate compared to a 15.9% k rate seems like he should be viewed more favorably.

[gunnarthor]

So, the positives - Kiriloff and Larnich look like solid MLers and Jeffers was a good second round pick. But, sheesh, they have really whiffed on the pitchers. That the best pitching prospect is still someone acquired by Ryan is not good for our pitching pipeline. Admittedly, COVID made everything really hard to measure but, ugh.

 

[TwinsDr2021]

It is not surprising with Kirilloff and Laranch staying in the majors this year. Sadly I think going into 2022, Balazovich and Lewis (10 first round short stops drafted will probably push Lewis down until he proves he is healthy and is playing well) will switch places. And I don't see any Twins jumping up on the list because it seems most of the Twins prospects are too old except Cavaco and Urbina and they don't seem to be doing anything.

[nicksaviking]

Phew. Graterol, Stewart, Romero, Gonsalves. Seems like a curse to have a bunch of top 100 pitching prospects.

The Twins do much better with the non-top 100 pitching prospects like, uh..............

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

It is not surprising with Kirilloff and Laranch staying in the majors this year. Sadly I think going into 2022, Balazovich and Lewis (10 first round short stops drafted will probably push Lewis down until he proves he is healthy and is playing well) will switch places. And I don't see any Twins jumping up on the list because it seems most of the Twins prospects are too old except Cavaco and Urbina and they don't seem to be doing anything.

Cavaco was a project when the Twins drafted him, but he has been getting better. Keep in mind, he's only 20 with virtually no pro experience coming into this year.

.294/.375/.388 OPS .763 since June 1.

.264/.361/.358 OPS .719 since his return from the IL on July 2.

Biggest red flag I see with Cavaco is the K rate around 30%, but there's a lot to work on.

[TwinsDr2021]

25 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Cavaco was a project when the Twins drafted him, but he has been getting better. Keep in mind, he's only 20 with virtually no pro experience coming into this year.

.294/.375/.388 OPS .763 since June 1.

.264/.361/.358 OPS .719 since his return from the IL on July 2.

Biggest red flag I see with Cavaco is the K rate around 30%, but there's a lot to work on.

Really wasn't trying to be negative on Cavaco, was trying to imply he is the type of player the prospect list love, 1st round choice, Young, and plays short stop,

[h2oface]

This is what all that trading for prospects has accomplished. That, and the current Twins' record. You don't get better by trading away your best players, collecting prospects that get old, and then trading them when they are finally ready to be MLB players. Buy into that formula if you like, and most do these days it seems, but the results are not fiction. 

[purplesoldier4u]

Hahahaha! Three spots away from having only one! ??? So, Falvey and Levine used their collective genius to field a horrible MLB team AND and very low rated prospect pool? In the words of Joe Mauer, "neat."

[nicksaviking]

16 minutes ago, h2oface said:

This is what all that trading for prospects has accomplished. That, and the current Twins' record. You don't get better by trading away your best players, collecting prospects that get old, and then trading them when they are finally ready to be MLB players. Buy into that formula if you like, and most do these days it seems, but the results are not fiction. 

The Twins have been buyers most of the past five years. Outside of 2018, when did they trade away anyone?

[dbminn]

On the bright side, Baseball America includes Miranda on their "Next Up List" for the Top 100, saying: "He has been one of the best pure hitters in the minors all year. " 

[Seth Stohs]

3 hours ago, John Bonnes said:

Royce Lewis at 60 and Jordan Balazovich at 98 are the only Twins prospects among their Top 100 MLB Prospects list. 
 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2021-top-100-prospects/

Well, yeah... Kirilloff, Larnach and Jeffers all just graduated and Duran hasn't pitched and is injured. Miranda has never been highly-touted across the industry. 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, h2oface said:

This is what all that trading for prospects has accomplished. That, and the current Twins' record. You don't get better by trading away your best players, collecting prospects that get old, and then trading them when they are finally ready to be MLB players. Buy into that formula if you like, and most do these days it seems, but the results are not fiction. 

That is a version of fantasy baseball, and it seem to be a cancer.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

The Twins have been buyers most of the past five years. Outside of 2018, when did they trade away anyone?

Stop with the facts.

[Mike Sixel]

As pointed out, they have graduated 2-3 legit ML players this year. Put those three back in the minors, and their system looks A LOT better. I mean, what do people expect when a team adds 3 legit MLB players from the minors, that the system is still awesome? And, if you expect that, the only way to do that is to deal major league players for lots of prospects, is that what you want?

MN is currently ranked 18th by Fangraphs.....after graduating those three......and they aren't done adding prospects this deadline, I'd guess.

[h2oface]

3 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

The Twins have been buyers most of the past five years. Outside of 2018, when did they trade away anyone?

Forgive me. I didn't know that 2018 doesn't count. How are any of those prospects helping this year yet? I don't consider Alcala or Celestino really helping, but you may. Same with Smeltzer, unless you like worse than replacement level pitching. Duran, when what is probably needed is done, is probably not back until 2023.... fun to write and argue about though. The acquired are a big part of the current farm system that have not risen to top prospects, and the current rating, which IS the subject of the OP. Those that graduated and made for the dropout, are all drafted players, and even the prospect lists are fading fast on Lewis, for more reasons than just his injury. The traded for prospects are supposed to fill those holes, right? I hope they all do become MLB players, but I am not so optimistic.

Prospects Acquired: Jorge Alcala, Gilberto Celestino, Jhoan Duran, Luke Raley, Chase De Jong, Luis Rijo, Devin Smeltzer, Gabriel Maciel, Ryan Costello, Ernie De La Trinidad

 

Traded: Ryan Pressly (Jorge Alcala, Gilberto Celestino), Eduardo Escobar (Ernie De La Trinidad, Jhoan Duran, Gabriel Maciel), Zach Duke (Chase De Jong, Ryan Costello), Lance Lynn (Tyler Austin, Luis Rijo), Brian Dozier ( Logan Forsythe - not a prospect, Luke Raley, Devin Smeltzer). (Not saying that we should have not traded some of them, just listing who was traded)

 

"Ryan Pressly hit a notable benchmark with his appearance in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Rangers.  It was Pressly’s 40th game of the season, and as Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle notes (Twitter link), Pressly’s 2022 club option has now hit its maximum value of $10MM, as reaching an increasing number of games pitched this season gradually raised the reliever’s option from its original $7MM figure.  Should Pressly hit the 60-game threshold this season, that $10MM option will automatically become guaranteed.  Given that the right-hander has excelled at Houston’s closer, it seems like a pretty good bet that Pressly’s option will vest, and the Astros won’t mind retaining an All-Star reliever for $10MM."

 

Edit: also 2018

Not MLB player, but MLB ready Nick Anderson  to Marlins for INF Brian Schales (who)?

 

 

[nicksaviking]

6 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Forgive me. I didn't know that 2018 doesn't count.

Well you made it sound like they are always trading players for prospects, and as you admit, it was only the one year. One year seems like a pretty small sample size.

[h2oface]

8 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Well you made it sound like they are always trading players for prospects, and as you admit, it was only the one year. One year seems like a pretty small sample size.

Well, I can only reference what there is. That is the record so far (albeit I have probably left out something), and small or not, is what they own.

[nicksaviking]

39 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Well, I can only reference what there is. That is the record so far (albeit I have probably left out something), and small or not, is what they own.

To be clear, I don't feel much like trading away the top players.

But the 1991 and the 2000-Whenever clubs were pretty heavily stocked by prospects who were traded for by selling veteran players. The current Rays, A's, White Sox and Cleveland largely built their teams this way too. If you completely cut yourself off from one of the methods of team building, you're unnecessarily giving yourself a handicap.

[Dman]

The top 100 only means so much.  It is nice to have players on it but these guys miss on players all the time.  They never ever had Arraez even close on their list.  Rosario wasn't a top 100 player. Rogers wasn't top 100. I don't think Jeffers made it either.  Garver didn't for sure and yet there they all are in MLB performing and doing well. Nice to have guys on there but Sano was a top 5 prospect and look how that turned out.  It is a fun list to follow and have bragging rights but beyond that it doesn't mean all that much IMO.

Miranda was snubbed for whatever reason and our top pitchers have barely pitched.  It will turn around once more guys get healthy.  I will say that suddenly there doesn't appear to be much for elite hitters in the system but that could change as well.  System looks solid to me and we have more pitching prospects than I have ever seen in the system since I have been on this board.  There has to be some good pitchers in there somewhere.  Graduations always take make the farm look like it isn't that good but someone always breaks out and things change.